Hayastani Hanrapetutyun: Armenia’s nuke plant to launch 'spent nuclear fuel management project'

The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) has proposed the launch of a spent nuclear fuel management project in the coming years to store fuel in its supplies for reletively longer periods.

General Director Movses Vardanyan announced the plan earlier this month as he addressed their current concerns and upcoming projects at a hearing in Armenia's National Assembly, says the paper. The debates, held by the parliament's Standing Committees on Regional and Eurasian Integration, addressed the possibilities of extending the Russian interstate credits aimed at the ANPP’s technical re-equipment. Vardanyan said that the plant has the necessary capacities to ensure proper storage conditions except for the spent fuel supplies with an average activity rate. He added that they are now planning the construction of a dry fuel storage facility to resolve also that problem until 2036.

Citing its sources, the paper says that negotiations are now being held with the Russian side to operate those facilities (with storage capacity periods of 50-300 years) outside the ANPP’s premises.

In comments to the paper, Ashot Martirosyan, the chairman of the Nuclear Safety Committee (adjunct to the Government), said their agency’s 20-year license (issued back in 2000) for the operation of a dry fuel storage facility is expiring next year, adding that they are currently planning to extend its effective period for another 30 years.

As to why the Committee came up with such a decision, the question remains open for debates at the moment, says the paper.